My name is Kory Stamper, and I am a lexicographer for Merriam-Webster. That means I am a writer and editor of dictionaries.

The definition, when I got to it, the definition and the entry were probably about 50, 60 years old. They were not very expansive. So I had to undertake the whole revision.

I mean, defining a word can take — s ometimes it can take you a couple minutes; sometimes it can take a really long time.It took me four months.

Pretty much every word that I used in the definition I just agonized over. Can you say"omnipotent" if you're referring to "god" in this sense? Can you say "compassionate" if you're referring to "god" in this sense? Is it appropriate to call the neo-pagan uses of "god" "deity"? Should you call them"being"? Should you call them "spirit"? Don't confuse "essence" and "nature" when you are talking about "god."

It was a total mind trip.

And the easiest one is the use of "god" as, like, a verbal particle. For, like, "Oh, my God!" or "Dear God!" or that sort of "god." That was the was the easiest one.

Anything to do with "deity," "being," "spirit," it was — no.

I had rabbis, philosophers, theologians of all stripes look at it. And at the end of it, I think the entry is pretty good.

I'm sure I could have done better in some things. I hope it never comes up for revision again while I'm still a lexicographer. It'll take me another eight or nine months to try and fix it.